Not to throw a brick through the city’s window, but I love brick streets.

What’s not to love about them?

There’s something to be said about the yesteryear charm — the sheer nostalgia — that brick streets bring. For some reason, those cute little clay-and-shale rectangles tout this Victorian, turn-of-the-century romantic appeal that, I’m sorry, modern asphalt and concrete streets just don’t.

So I was appalled and flabbergasted last week when the city started the work to pull up old asphalt, lay down concrete and cover up the exposed brick that had given downtown some of its charm — and frankly, our downtown could use all the charm it can get. Let’s just say beautification efforts to turn downtown into something striking have not been fast and furious lo these years.

The city did not seem to be too concerned about saving those brick streets. It was never in its plan for downtown to do so, said Public Works Director Russell Schreiber, who said that maintaining them would be a nightmare.

I see the city’s point, of course.

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Lana Sweeten-Shults, columnist for the Times Record News(Photo: Times Record News file)

There’s a reason brick streets don’t exist anymore. The gentle pitter-patter of horses-drawn buggies are long gone, and bricks just can’t stand up to modern-day traffic. When individual bricks pop up, they would have to be pulled and replaced, and getting to a water main break without destroying the brick would be horrible and awful.

Then, of course, there’s the cost, and where much of the covering-up-the-brick road work is being done, on Indiana Avenue, is uneven and needs help. I’m not sure what the cost difference is, but in a 2011 article from the Topeka Capital-Journal, a city official was quoted as saying it costs $40,000 to overlay a block of street with asphalt; removing brick, repairing the subsurface and re-laying the brick would cost between $120,000 and $180,000 per block.

Plus, no one really wants to drive on lumpy brick streets for any extended period of time.

Still, other cities have been charming the heck out of tourists via brick streets. Why can’t Wichita Falls do the same, at least with some targeted portions of downtown? I know oil derricks tout their own charm, but you can only get so much visual appeal from pump jacks.

It was awful what happened to the Wichita County Courthouse, which former Times Record News Editor Carroll Wilson called “the ugliest courthouse in the state of Texas.” Leaders approved covering the once stately 1916 building by a facade in the early 1960s and then by aluminum siding in the 1970s because some of the concrete blocks were falling down.

It was a travesty of visual appeal. Translation? “Ugly.”

The city over the years hasn’t seemed to care much for preserving its past or maintaining some of that yesteryear charm, and if any part of the city needs some bricking charm, it’s downtown. If any part of the city needs a little extra visual effort, it’s downtown. If any part of the city needs a little historical mojo, it’s definitely downtown.

I’m not sure if the city has noticed, but downtown has been experiencing a bit of a Renaissance lately as downtown businesses, nonprofits and other stakeholders took it upon themselves, without the prompting of the city, to organize first-of-the-month Thursday night After Hours Artwalks.

Those Artwalks were just a little more delightful with those historic brick streets.

Not to trample on the city too much.

It has put some effort into downtown lately, particularly the huge stars on some of downtown’s intersections, complete with concrete made to look like brick. And I appreciate the efforts at the Wichita Falls Downtown Farmers Market. It’s one of the prettier parts of downtown with its star intersection, old-school, Victorian-styled, star-based street lamps and a section of brick road beside it.

Maybe saving some of the brick streets downtown, much of it on Indiana, wasn’t practical this time.

I’m not sure what exactly is in the city’s plan for downtown. But I’m hoping brick streets - real ones or even the concrete ones that look like brick - will make it back into the plan.